House Bill 1389, sponsored by Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, would exempt the $689 million in fees paid by hospital providers from the state’s revenue collections. The accounting change would have vast effects on state spending, boosting lawmakers ability to spend on transportation and education. But it would also negate the refunds anticipated under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights in 2018, which are expected to range from $50 to 682 for single filers.

The proposal, discussed in private for most the session, came to the forefront April 16 when the Democratic governor issued a letter urging lawmakers to take action before the May 6 adjournment. Democratic and Republican lawmakers raised serious questions about the proposal and any opposition may not let it reach the finish line before lawmakers leave town. The toughest critics accuse the governor of trying to weaken TABOR, a third-rail in Colorado politics.

Colorado lawmakers are considering a ballot measure to address a glitch in marijuana taxes. (File photo by Kathryn Scott Osler/ The Denver Post)

UPDATED: Colorado voters are expected to face a choice in November 2015: allow the state to keep excess marijuana taxes for school construction or give tax breaks to recreational pot users and growers.

The tentative terms for a referred ballot measure on the issue are outlined in a bill from Sen. Pat Steadman, a Denver Democrat, that won approval Tuesday in the Joint Budget Committee.

Oops. New Colorado Republican chairman Steve House made an error in his first fundraising e-mail, accusing “Denver Democrats” of killing a TABOR refund bill when actually the measure has yet to even be scheduled for a hearing.

House, who beat Ryan Call for the chairman’s post earlier this month, outlined the “common sense conservative bills” that “Democrat obstructionists” in the state House have killed. (Republicans control the Senate; Democrats the House.) The chairman included in the list of dead bills Senate Bill 1 from Senate President Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, “which puts TABOR money into the pockets of the working families.”

But Senate Republicans are waiting until the legislature passes the budget before taking up the measure which, by the way, the left-leaning Colorado Fiscal Institute actually likes.

Said House: “We noted that little mistake right after we sent it out and they forgave us on the hill.”

The much-awaited introduction of the state budget bill may be delayed up to a week to give the Joint Budget Committee more time to answer pressing spending questions and adjust for the next fiscal forecast.

Senate President Bill Cadman and House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst — along with the chambers’ respective Republican and Democratic leaders — agreed to waive the March 23 legal deadline for the spending bill, known in legislative parlance as the long bill.

The new deadline is March 30, though it may get introduced sooner if budget writers finish their work faster. The remaining budget schedule — with final negotiations expected to end April 10 — are likely also delayed by a week.

Sen. Kent Lambert, the Joint Budget Committee chairman and a Colorado Springs Republican, explained Tuesday that the move will allow the committee “not to get held hostage to the clock and to be more deliberative.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper delivered his fifth State of the State address today to Colorado lawmakers. (Photo By Brent Lewis/The Denver Post)

Gov. John Hickenlooper ended his remarks to the Economic Club of Colorado on Tuesday with a warning for the state’s business leaders.

A major focus of his second term is preparing for Colorado’s impending growth — with 3 million more residents expected in the next 20 years, he said. The Democrat said Colorado is growing “almost too rapidly” and the growth costs money.

“We’re probably going to have to spend a bunch of money that will take the business community stepping up,” he said, saying industry leaders will need to recognize the need to spend money on roads and infrastructure.

“To get the infrastructure in place to make sure we have this capacity for growth certainly can’t be done just by government. So that’s my point really today to come talk to you, which is to say get ready because we are going to have to ask,” Hickenlooper continued.

Democrat Roy Romer holds his final press conference in January 1999 as he prepares to leave office after 12 years as Colorado governor. (The Denver Post)

Gov. John Hickenlooper invited three former Democratic governors to offer advice for his second term at his inaugural celebration Tuesday evening.

It started lighthearted with former Gov. Dick Lamm. But then former Gov. Roy Romer gave him an earful.

“This is an evening both of fun and seriousness,” Romer started. “I’m going to be the serious part.”

“My advice is, governor, lead a movement in this state to repeal the TABOR amendment,” he said to cheers from the crowd at the Fillmore Auditorium, where guests paid $100-a-plate to attend. “We need to invest in the future of our children’s education and the infrastructure of this state. We need to return that power, that authority, that decision, to the people’s representative, the legislature and the governor.”

Romer kept at it. “We need to revise this tax system and do what the conservatives do — invest in the future of this state,” he continued. “We need to revise the TABOR amendment and get a better tax system. It needs not a political election, it needs a movement. Governor, lead that movement.”

The first batch of state Senate bills popped into the online queue Wednesday, hours after session ended. But one was missing at first: Senate Bill 1, reserved for President Bill Cadman.

Now it’s online, and it’s a big one. The measure would change how the state awards refunds under the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights — essentially shifting who gets the most money back when the state exceeds its TABOR revenue cap.

It’s a complicated topic, but the analysts at the Colorado Fiscal Institute broke it down. (Spoiler alert: The left-leaning policy organization actually likes the bill.)

A month before his second term, Gov. John Hickenlooper is painting a bleak picture of Colorado’s future budget situation, even as he touts the state’s improving economic fortunes.

“We are going to have real difficult challenges in terms of how we address pretty much any basic infrastructure (spending need): transportation, K-12 education, higher education, healthcare,” he told the Denver Forum at a luncheon Tuesday. “Some of the things we’ve taken for granted and counted on in terms of our quality of life, we probably won’t be able to continue to afford.”

The reason for the strife, as the Democrat made clear, is the state’s constitutional spending limit known as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR. It’s politically volatile to point the finger at TABOR and Hickenlooper sought to walk a fine line as he raised the stakes.

Majority Leader Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, in her new leather chair in the House chamber.

Gov. John Hickenlooper issued an election-eve budget plan that supported taxpayer refunds next year, but his Democratic colleagues in the legislature are openly considering a move to spend the money.

The talk comes as the Joint Budget Committee continues preliminary meetings to craft the state budget and raises the specter of an intraparty showdown on one of the top legislative issues in the upcoming 2015 session.

Under the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, Colorado must return any tax collections in excess of its constitutional revenue cap, which is set by the rate of inflation plus population growth. Right now, the state forecasts a potential $130 million refund.

In a recent interview, noted in a story looking at Hickenlooper’s second term, incoming House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst made the most direct suggestion that Democrats may support a ballot measure in 2015 to ask voters to keep the money for state spending instead of issuing a refund

“If we don’t do anything as a state, we are going to be spending almost as much money as we refund, refunding money to people, which doesn’t seem to make a lot of common sense to me,” the Boulder Democrat said. “The people would be far better off if we invested that in infrastructure, education — something that really benefited them rather than (them) getting their 50 bucks to spend on a tank of gas or something.”

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.